Mark of the Lion (13 page)

“So if I want to find this son,” summarized Jade, “I’d better look to west Tsavo, where he prospected?”

Harry shifted in his chair. “Lord Colridge is right. Look to Mombasa if you have to look anywhere.” He paused and rubbed his chin. “Inheritance, right? If it’s worth a lot, it might help you find him.”

“It’s a lost bet, Miss del Cameron,” said Colridge. “Don’t waste your time looking for a bastard in a haystack.” His expression softened as he spied Jade’s shocked expression and he placed a fatherly hand on her arm. “You’ve done your best. Can’t do more.”

Madeline patted her shoulder. “Poor dear,” she cooed.

This level of sympathy felt dangerously close to Jade’s wallowing point, so she roused herself and addressed Lord Colridge. “Should we be getting back to the village soon, sir?”

Colridge puffed out his mustache. “Most definitely. Need to be there before dark.” He fixed his eyes on Jade. “I don’t suppose you and Mrs. Thompson would consider staying here? No, didn’t think so.”

“Would your own wife have stayed behind, Miles?” asked Harry.

The old man chuckled. “Lady Colridge not go on a hunt? Not even if she had to be bait. But,” he added quickly, “I knew
her
value as a marksman. I don’t know Miss del Cameron’s.” He looked sideways to Jade. “You’ll have to stay out of the way. By the by, we walk back. Horses would be in the way at the village. Besides, the boys have already groomed the ticks off of them.”

Harry picked up Jade’s Winchester and examined it with interest. “I believe your President Roosevelt used a Winchester, didn’t he?” He shouldered it and sighted down the barrel. “For myself, I prefer my bolt-action Mauser.”

“A fine weapon, Hascombe,” agreed Lord Colridge. “Thompson, what did you bring?”

“An Enfield, sir.”

“Very good,” proclaimed Colridge as the rest of the party, including Jelani, fell in behind him. “Proven weapons.”

“Just what is the recommended placement for taking out a hyena?” asked Jade.

“Hard to kill one cleanly,” admitted Colridge over his shoulder. “But I’m not terribly interested in the pelt, unless you are, Harry.”

Hascombe shook his head. “Perhaps Miss del Cameron would find it amusing, though. Or,” he added, “Neville and Mrs. Thompson might have a use for it.”

Neville Thompson declined any such need, and Madeline shook her head vehemently.

“Thank you,” Jade said. “I’m sure my father would enjoy adding it to the wall with his black bear.” She recognized Colridge’s answer as an attempt to evade her question.
Probably thinks if I don’t know how to kill a hyena, I won’t try.
“But to return to my question, where would one shoot to make a clean kill?”

Harry Hascombe walked alongside Jade. “A head shot is out of the question,” he said. “The head’s too small, and the skull’s rather thick. A better choice would be to go through the front shoulders or angle through the chest into the off shoulder.”

Similar conversation filled the brief walk back to the village, and Jade relaxed after the initial anxiety of exposing the secret of David’s ring to these relative strangers. The worst result so far was Madeline’s obvious desire to mother her. At best, she’d actually confirmed Gil’s attachment to Tsavo. Her thoughts had trailed off to a safari there when Harry’s deep baritone at her side recalled her attention.

“I beg your pardon,” she said. “My mind must have wandered.”

“Not a difficult task once old Miles begins drawling on about his exploits,” said Mr. Hascombe. “I asked how long you intend to stay in the colony.”

“Several weeks, I should think. The Thompsons volunteered to keep me at their farm while I photograph Nairobi and Thika. After that, I’m to write a second feature on a safari.” She paused as though the idea had just come to her. “You know, I read Colonel Patterson’s account about those Tsavo man-eaters. I think I’d really like to see Tsavo. Perhaps I might learn something about Gil’s son while I’m in the area.”

Harry frowned. “Tsavo is a mean district, Miss del Cameron. Scratchy thorns everywhere, killer lions. You would do better to go to the Serengeti or Kapiti Plains.”

“Gil didn’t prospect in those places. I’m not a delicate flower, Mr. Hascombe,” she added.

“I can see that.” His brown eyes ran slowly over her. “You’re all woman, but—”

Jade interrupted before he got more personal. If this man knew something about Gil and his treks in Tsavo, she meant to have his assistance. “Besides my own interest in the matter, my editor also suggested Tsavo as a possibility. The romance of the name might sell more copy. I could use a man of your expertise.”

Harry shrugged his broad shoulders and leaned closer. “Suit yourself. If you insist on Tsavo, I just might tag along to be of assistance.”

“Fine. My magazine is arranging the safari through the outfitters in Nairobi: Newland, Tarlton, and Company, I believe. Perhaps they could hire you as one of the safari guides?”

“I know the outfit, Miss del Cameron. I worked for them once before with a neighbor of mine, Roger Forster. I’m sure it would be no problem.”

“Excellent,” Jade concluded. “You might as well be paid for your expertise as not.”

Harry frowned a little at this last remark, and Jade knew he took her intention to be businesslike rather than social. Good. All the signs pointed to his being interested in her, but she wasn’t in the market for courtship. Better not to send any false messages. A man of Mr. Hascombe’s ego might intentionally misread her interest beyond an academic one. Still, he definitely had an aura about him.

The walk to the Kikuyu village took them down from an airy, elevated plain and its shorter grasses into the knee-high vegetation and woodier brush of the lowlands. The hike itself was not difficult, but Jade wondered what it would be like going back in the dark and uphill when they were tired. She looked down, pulled a tick from her trousers, and tossed it aside.

Once inside the village, Lord Colridge directed everyone to their places. By previous order, the Kikuyu had retired to their huts, though the droning whispers from within spoke of their intention to keep vigil. Jade sent Jelani off to the huts as soon as they entered the village.

“Thompson, you, Hascombe, and myself will wait over there.” Colridge pointed to a slightly upraised blind of poles and thatch that the Kikuyu had constructed for him. “The ladies will wait it out in the
boma
with the goats, where it’s safer.”

Jade and Madeline immediately protested, but Colridge shushed them with a dictatorial hand motion. “Miss del Cameron, you will be able to see perfectly well through the breaks in the
boma
, especially with this moonlight. Mrs. Thompson, I trust you’ll want to keep her company.”

“I was under the impression, sir,” argued Jade, “that the hyena broke into the
boma
in the past. I’d hardly call it a safe place.”

“But there wasn’t any bait out for it on those nights,” Colridge said, his voice patronizing. “The hyena is a lazy brute at heart, like most predators. It won’t work any harder than it needs to for a meal.”

“I’m going to scout around the perimeter,” said Harry.

Neville turned to his wife. “Off you go, Madeline. Be a good sport about it.”

“I don’t care to be treated like a child, Neville,” she whispered lest Lord Colridge overhear her.

“I know, darling,” said Neville. “But this is no time to argue.” He nodded sideways at Colridge and contorted his face into a grimace to convey to his spouse the importance of the man’s patronage and approval.

Madeline took the hint. “Yes, of course, darling,” she said in a louder voice. “You are absolutely correct. We’ll just be going into the
boma
.”

Jade reluctantly followed Madeline through a small gateway and pulled the brush back into place behind them. The goats paid no attention to their arrival and settled down on their knobby knees in the dirt. A few kids butted their mothers’ udders to be fed. Outside the
boma
, the sun sat low on the horizon and filled the sky with gorgeous splashes of scarlet and gold. Long shadows bathed the village and surrounding hills in cool, grape blue shadows. Nearly a quarter hour later, they heard Mr. Hascombe return and enter the blind. Then, as the sunset plunged the world into darkness, they heard a scratching at the
boma
gate. Jade lowered her rifle when a voice from without called softly.

“Memsabu, it is me.”

“Jelani? What are you doing out there? I thought you went into a hut.” She trotted over to the entrance and pulled back the brush from the opening. “Come inside at once,” she ordered.

Jelani slipped in through the opening, and Jade pushed the brush back into place. She took the boy by the shoulders and brought her face down to within an inch of his. “We must be silent,” she whispered. “When the hyena comes, it should only hear the goat outside.”

Jelani nodded and tiptoed in front of Jade along the wall and away from the opening. A few goats trotted before them. A patch of white appeared dimly ahead—Madeline’s shirt. “Over here,” she whispered.

They squatted down near her and peered through various gaps in the brush towards the stake that tethered the goat near the blind. Jade reckoned the distance to be about twenty yards, an easy shot. But bad luck and the gently rolling topography put the raised blind barely above the line of her fire. If she missed the hyena, she risked hitting one of the men. For that matter, from their current position the women risked being hit in the cross fire. Under her breath Jade cursed Lord Colridge and his antiquated chivalrous attitude.

They moved farther aside and sat in the dark for nearly half an hour more before the moon rose overhead and washed the landscape with its iridescent glow. The bait had long since knelt down in the dirt with its head resting to one side, and Madeline had given up on kneeling in favor of sitting with her legs curled to the left. Jade shifted from one knee to the other until her wounded knee began to ache. She shifted again when she realized Jelani was not by her side. She looked for him and saw him standing at the gate, trying to peer out. Before she could call him back, a mad cackling laugh erupted from outside the rear of the
boma
.

The skin along Jade’s forearms prickled and tingled. She shivered involuntarily. The laugh repeated itself. Erratic, high-pitched notes touched with insanity rolled through the night, the type of laugh she had heard from the shell-shocked victims. The darkness, the ghostly light, and the inhuman sounds triggered the memory of a particularly harrowing night ambulance run when the insanity behind her seat went on for endless miles.

Her breath came in rapid gasps. The nearly instinctive panic, the urge to flee the war with its smells, sickness, and death, oppressed her and pushed her to the limits of reason. She closed her eyes and fought the fear, mentally reciting her old shelling mantra. Then the laughter ceased, and Madeline gently shook her.

“Jade,” she whispered. “Are you all right? You look ill.” Jade pulled a kerchief from her hip pocket and wiped the sweat from her brow. Now she knew how a grouse felt as the dogs edged closer and closer until it finally gave in to its panic and flew out into the open. She also knew she must find a way to conquer those panic attacks or she would forever be in danger. Any sound, any smell might trigger them. Why they needed to be conquered was not the issue, but how.

“I’m fine,” Jade answered. “That laugh, bad memories.”

“Hyena,” explained Madeline.

The old nanny outside had heard the eerie, quavering calls as well. It stood up and stomped its hooves nervously as its ears twitched from side to side, listening for danger. If another animal had entered the village, it kept itself out of sight. Jade took a deep breath, held it, and listened. Then she heard it, a soft scrabbling at the
boma
gate, right where Jelani stood.

“Jelani,” she whispered, “get back now!”

Madeline crept closer to her. “What is it?” she whispered.

Jade didn’t reply. She shouldered her rifle and steadied herself. Jelani started to back slowly away from the gate. His right hand clutched a slender object. It glinted in the moonlight, and Jade saw it was a knife. “Damn,” she muttered. Jelani seemed intent on becoming a warrior sooner than necessary.

Suddenly the
boma
’s gate bowed inward with a groan and a crackling snap. The low head and high shoulders of the spotted hyena pushed through. Jade chambered a round and waited. The animal hesitated and sniffed the air. A shot now was impossible. Jelani stood in the way, and if Jade moved, the hyena might charge. Jade concentrated on keeping her breathing slow and regular and tried to ignore the intense throbbing pain in her knee.

The powerful animal eyed Jelani and stalked into the
boma
towards him. Its massive jaws quivered slightly, glistening wet with saliva. The shorter hindquarters tensed themselves for the rush. Jade set her sights on the animal’s chest and shouted.

“Jelani, run! Now!” She trusted in the immediate obedience of the boy, who had learned to take orders, but she underestimated the predator’s speed and power. Jelani jumped out of the line of fire just as the hyena charged. The beast knocked the boy to the ground with a glancing blow from its massive shoulder. Jade saw her shot and squeezed the trigger as she exhaled. The animal yelped and leaped into the air.

“Madeline, get Jelani,” ordered Jade. Madeline darted around the nervous, bleating goats and pulled the Kikuyu youth aside as the hyena bit its own shoulder to attack the source of its pain. Jade worked the lever smoothly, chambered another round, and waited for her opportunity.

“Over here, you
toto
-eating monster,” she shouted. The hyena glared at her and presented its open chest to her sights. She fired again, and the hyena jerked, fell, and lay still. The sound of running feet came from the direction of the blind. Colridge, Hascombe, and Thompson rushed into the
boma
, rifles ready.